Remember the storm surrounding Sarah Palin and her book banning crusade at the Wasilla Public Library. It turned out to be one of the bigger issues of her campaign.20 years before Palin thrust the Wasilla Public Library into the national spotlight Edith Olson wrote a book The Library and I. A History of the first twenty-five years of the Wasilla Public Library. Olson was the librarian at the Wasilla Public Library from 1938-1958. When she arrived their was no library building and the library consisted of two bookcases in the hall of the school house. The library held 350 books,...
Public Collectors : Share Your Collection with the World
Public Collectors is the brainchild of Marc Fisher. Its goal is to allow "large collections of materials to become accessible so that knowledge, ideas and expertise can be freely shared and exchanged," and is "founded upon the concern that there are many types of cultural artifacts that public libraries, museums and other institutions and archives either do not collect or do not make freely accessible."Tremendous potential here for the book world. Creates an opportunity for collectors to add their wares to the public domain allowing the gems of their collections to be accessed by scholars, researchers and other interested parties.Now...
The Tipping Point at the Public Library
Image via Pink Slips are the New BlackSo much for the trickle down effect as a sane economic and social policy.As the woes of Wall Street make their way to Library Street the trickle down effect is quickly becoming the trickle death effect.If your library is not in danger of it's hours or staff being cut due to the strained budgets of cities, counties and towns across the world then it is probably in danger of being overused and overstressed by the hordes of visitors reeling from the economic troubles of our time.Either way is unsustainable and without quick action...
Cliff Eyland : The ‘Librarian Painter’
Bookshelf File Card LK 21 -The Large Bookshelf, 2009Illustrator Drawing on Paper, 3" x 5"At times Cliff Eyland thinks of himself as a "librarian painter." A longtime bibliophile, Eyland has been painting on 3" x 5" index cards for 30 years.In his latest exhibition Bookshelf File Cards, at the Leo Kamen Gallery in Toronto, Cliff Eyland "reengages his lifelong obsession with books and art by painting abstract images of books on shelves.""Since his art school days Eyland has not only remained consistent in the size of his work but he has also come to believe that the library is the...
Is Seattle Hungry?
Here's the list of the Seattle Public Library's top circulated books for 2008.1. "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press). 2. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead). . 3. "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Viking). 4. "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" by Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking). 5. "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a Year of Food Life" by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins). 6. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by...